


At The Bottom Of Everything

by benneybean



Category: HLVRAI - Fandom, Half-Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware
Genre: Conversations with a skeleton, Drabble, Gen, Missing scene in Spinverse, Other, meta?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:02:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25325827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/benneybean/pseuds/benneybean
Summary: So, the whole sum of everything has come crashing down, the big bad has been defeated, and somewhere something is exploding. Maybe all of it.
Kudos: 31





	At The Bottom Of Everything

_ At The Bottom Of Everything _

So, the whole sum of everything has come crashing down, the big bad has been defeated, and somewhere something is exploding. Maybe all of it. Right now, all Gordon can do is sit on the uneven alien ground of Xen and stare blankly at the (now regular-sized) body of Benrey laying limp in the pool of liquid above which he'd previously loomed.

That is, until he sits up suddenly, skeletal, and stretches bony jaws somehow into a grin. "Yo, Freeman. You did it bro!" he says. His tone is always so flat that he is impossible to read. He chuckles. "Awesome."

The ground shakes underneath them, and Gordon thinks he should really be walking through the portal to somewhere more safe. Instead, he sits down. Instead of anything helpful, Gordon says, "you were really big." Benrey's skeleton gives a thumbs up. "How…" he says, then, "why," and finally, "what?"

The skeleton sings an orange note. "Orange you glad to see me?" Benrey says, shrugging. "Better me than some crazy ass monster, right?" He isn't sure about anything anymore; Benrey sounds just as confidently aloof as always. "Anyway, that was cool right?" Somehow, while still sitting, Benrey seems to drift forward until he's much closer. "Wasn't that a fun game?" Gordon shrugs this time. 

There is a much closer explosion, and Benrey's eye sockets are aimed somewhere over his shoulder. He frowns. The ground shakes, like the thunder after a lightning strike. "Benrey, we should go, right?" he says. Benrey's toothy grin fades.

"Nahhhh, I'm gonna just chill here. You go on ahead," Benrey answers, stretching out his arms and seeming to recline, comfortable even as the room they are in starts groaning and cracking apart. "I'll catch up later."

Gordon thinks he's lying. Gordon thinks this has all been a series of lies. Like something has taken control and placed him in a cartoon. "Video game," Benrey mumbles. "Anyway, it was cool meeting you or whatever. You shoulda grabbed your passport when you had the chance. Epic fail. But you still won."

"I'm not just leavin-" Gordon starts but Benrey cuts him off.

"Seriously bro, things are about to get bad."

Gordon narrows his eyes, says, "things have been bad." He’s right. He knows this. Benrey must too because for once he is quiet. “Things are gonna be really fucked up, huh?"

Benrey nods, or the skeleton nods; Gordon is beginning to lose track of what is happening, as he is rocked to the side by another rippling explosion. "Yeah bro, if you don't get on your way. Xen isn't gonna last long at this rate," Berney says.

The ground shakes constantly. He isn't sure what colour the sky is supposed to be, here in this alien world, but it is certainly changing and that should be alarming him. Still, he doesn't want to leave just yet. "I won't see you again if I leave, will I?" Gordon asks.

Suddenly, Benrey is standing in front of him. Not the skeleton, but the totality of him. Dark eyes, his helmet broken behind him and dark hair spilling down his shoulders. He reaches up and brushes his bangs out of his face. "There are no predetermined deaths. I sure hope I see you again, loser." He sounds somehow less flat, almost sad like his very words were downturned instead of the lips that spoke them. "Get home to your kid," he says, shoving Gordon back a step.

"Wait-" Gordon says, as he backs up another step on instinct, "Benrey wait-" the sound is shot from the sky by a deafening sound. Benrey's mouth moves but Gordon can't hear. He sings and it's bright mauve maybe but everything is so bright.

Gravity gives out, and his stomach drops suddenly, and he can't see anything until he suddenly can and he's resting on the floor of a train. As he sits up, the windows are dark with fairy lights sprinkled randomly in the vast nothing.

"Hello, Mr. Freeman," a familiar and sinister voice says from behind him.

**Author's Note:**

> Title is a Bright Eyes song. Takes place immediately after defeating Benrey at the end of canon. In a way this is a missing scene of sorts, something that happened in the Spin Universe but wasn't in the fic itself.


End file.
